Category Archives: Film Reviews

OK. By now, you’ve heard about this movie called THE HUNGER GAMES. You may have even read the book (I hope). Like any adaptation, there is bound to be some scenes, characters, or storyline that will be cut out or merged due to time constraints. It is understandable that sacrifices must be made in order to progress a story and in this case, the adaptation is perhaps made slightly more difficult by the fact that the books were written in first person – from the point of view of our heroine, Katniss Everdeen.

But I am not here to critique the movie – there are already plenty of movie critics and film reviewers who have done this. I thought I would just highlight a few scenes that made the book all-the-more appealing to me that did not make it into the final cut of the film, or were changed. To those of you who have read the trilogy, you will probably notice some of these scenes/characters will become more significant in the subsequent books in the series, and so, I hope, they will be brought back into the film adaptation of those books.

Please note that I am writing this post on the assumption that you have either read the book or seen the movie or both, therefore, no detailed explanation is being given as to the overall plot or cast of characters.

And therein lies the premise of IN TIME, a film written and directed by Andrew Niccol (who also brought us Gattaca and The Truman Show).

Here’s the setup: it is late 21st Century and the human race is genetically engineered to stop ageing at 25 and are given one more year to live unless they have “replenished” their clocks. In this world, the currency of exchange is time – you literally trade for more time on this earth. Everyone is born with a clock (it’s digital, if that helps) on their left forearm and you “transact” on your right.

The Time zones

In this world, time zones are literally geographic areas that determine how long you have to live. In Dayton (the “ghetto”), the average life expectancy for its occupants is 23 hours compared to that of New Greenwich (where the rich live) of 347 years. The rich can earn decades at a time, effectively making them immortal, while the poor do whatever it takes to survive from day to day. To keep the ghetto-dwellers from earning their way out of their time zones, the rich drive up the cost of living, essentially making it impossible for them to move outside their borders. Continue reading →

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words “Disney” and “mermaids” in the same sentence? If your answer is Ariel from The Little Mermaids, then you may want to avert your eyes in the mermaids scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, or you may just need to avoid the film all together, in which case, you would be missing out on a fun-filled 2+hr at the theatre.

It has been eight years since we first met Captain Jack Sparrow ((Johnny Depp) in the original Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, based on the popular ride of the same name at Disneyland. I remember going on that ride more than 15yrs ago – if only Johnny Depp was on hand to entertain me as I stood in line for half an hour waiting my turn. It has been a while since I have visited Disneyland – perhaps nowadays they just play the movies on the screens while you wait? Who would have thought that a popular theme park ride would spawn such a successful film franchise, but bravo to Jerry Bruckheimer. Not only did he make it work but he has managed to make it bigger and better with the latest installment.